The History Behind Japan’s Soccer Jerseys and Emblem

Overview

Soccer is a big part of my life and I always try to incorporate it in any project if possible. I was very glad to have the opportunity to be able to do this with this project. As a result, my research question for my midterm ended up being how does ancient art continue to contribute to Japanese culture. Since the Men and Womens World Cup just happened, I decided to look at the current Japan soccer jerseys and researched the reasoning behind their design and how it was connected to their culture and history. After researching the design of the jerseys for my midterm, I decided to specifically research the history of the emblem and how it connects to Japanese culture for my final. I thought this was a good way to learn more about Japan-ness because jerseys are the way a country represents itself so by seeing how Japan represented itself, I learned more about Japan-ness and their identity. I thoroughly enjoyed this project because I learned a lot about Japan and its history and how it connected to soccer. It was very interesting and it made me want to know more. Connecting this project to soccer was just a way to get started, but it also made me excited because I got to learn about something that I love. Soccer is a way that people connect and I was able to connect to this project because of it.

I had already learned a little bit about these jerseys because Japan had a good run in the World Cup by knocking out Germany to make it to the round of 16. Sadly they lost to Croatia in penalties, but they had already left their mark and had everyone saying it was “the Blue Lock project”. At the time I did not understand what that meant, but I later learned that the designer of this soccer anime, Blue Lock, had also designed the jerseys. This had everyone very excited and interested in their run at the World Cup. Because of this, when our teacher told us about this project, I immediately thought of this as the best way to connect it to soccer and then dive into the history of previous soccer jerseys. While researching the jerseys, I discovered that the blue jerseys were inspired by the art in the anime, but the white lines also form cranes which are a very significant part of their culture. I also looked up the woman’s jersey because they also just had their World Cup. They had the same home jerseys as the men which were the blue ones but they also had a pink and purple one. This was done to represent the sunrise at Mount Fuji. I instantly connected this to the class because we had discussed the importance of Mount Fuji and how it is included in many art works. Pink is also an important color in Japanese culture because it is the color of cherry blossoms. 

• Image #1
• Creator: Anonymous Japanese
• Title: Goddess of Mount Fuji,
• Material/ Medium: ink on paper
• Work type: painting
• Date: 14^th -18^th century
• Repository: Musée Guimet

This image is to show the importance of Mount Fuji in Japanese Culture. This is just one of the examples that shows Mount Fuji in the painting, but I chose this picture because it also shows the Goddess of Mount Fuji. This demonstrates the importance of this mountain in their culture and how it is a part of Japan-ness

• Image #2
• Creator: Calligraphy – Hon’ami Koetsu and Painting – Tawaraya Sotatsu
• Title: Poems of the Sanjurokkasen with Design of Cranes
• Material/Medium: Ink on paper with gold and silver
• Work Type: handscroll
• Date: c. 1610
• Period: Edo Period
• Measurements: 34 x 1356.7 cm Repository: Kyoto National Museum, Kyoto, Japan

I found this image which shows how cranes have always been a big part of Japanese culture. When people think of cranes, they think of paper cranes which are origami and that originated in Japan. It later became a huge part of their culture and something they were known for, so it’s nice to see how cranes have stayed consistent but the art has changed.

• Image #3
• Title: Shigi-san Engi (Legends of Mt. Shigi)
• Date: 1160-1170
• Subject: Painting–Japan: Late Heian (Fujiwara) 
• Period: 10th-12th C. A.D
  Shigi-san

I chose this image because it is a type of art called Emakimono. Emakimono is illustrations on handscrolls that told a story and were supposed to be read from left to right. This led to Emakimono and shadow play evolving from stories on scrolls to stories being told on screen and eventually turned into anime which has become a big part of the Japanese culture, so much so that they have incorporated this idea to the soccer jerseys which is a way to represent their country. 

Japan Soccer Emblem

This is the progression of the Japanese soccer team emblem. It is so interesting how they have changed so much over time, but yet the main idea stays the same, the yatagarasu and the soccer ball. It is clear that they wanted this to be the main focus and they stuck with it. You can tell it’s a big part of their culture and identity. The changes on the emblem haven’t been of the the essence of the original design, but more of the quality of the design and the colors, so the changes were more to keep up with the times, but the essence of it stayed the same and I think that is important to note

• Image #4
• Jimmu is the mythical founder of Japan, who established his empire in 660 BCE.
• A symbol of Jimmu is the longbow, which clearly marks the emperor from the rest of his party.
• Woodblock Print by Ginko Adachi
• Printed in 1891

In this image you can see the whole story take place. There is Emperor Jimmu in the center of the print with the longbow with his group all looking outward. When you follow their gaze, you see that they are looking at a bird and it is the yatagarasu guiding them.

Yatagarasu and mythology

The yatagarasu is the bird in Japan’s soccer emblem but the reason for that is that it is also a part of the legend of the first emperor of Japan. Jimmu is the mythical founder of Japan, who established his empire in 660 BCE and what makes him stand out in pictures is the longbow, which clearly marks the emperor from the rest of his party. In the legend it says that Emperor Jimmu was led to Japan by a yatagarasu. It is a mythical creature which is believed to be the god of guidance and messenger of the gods which also has three legs which could symbolize heaven, earth and man or the three Kumon clans or three ancient suns. One reason there are many different meanings is that Japanese and Chinese mythology overlap sometimes so there can be different meanings in different cultures and stories. Another reason is that most of this legend is folklore which means that it is stories that were passed down by telling them and not written down. I think this could also be a reason why this legend is so important to Japan-ness because not just anyone knows this story, it is special to them. Not just anyone can know this story, you have to know someone who can tell you it properly.  I don’t even know the whole story, just a general idea from what has been written down, but it will never be like someone telling me the story, that part is special and also why they decided to use this to represent Japan. 

Japanese Flag History

The sun has always played a big role in Japanese history and mythology. Japan is known as the land of the rising sun because from China, it is in the direction that the sun rises. Legend also says that the sun goddess founded Japan and was an ancestor of Emperor Jimmu. This was the reason they changed some of the colors from the emblem, to make the side with the red soccer ball look like the Japanese flag because of the white background. It is a clever way of including the flag in the emblem while giving the red circle a double meaning.

Textual Sources

I quickly realized when doing my research that it was going to be difficult to find just one source that told me everything I wanted to know. I had to put bits and pieces of information from many sources. There was not just one source which told me all of the history of the yatagarasu and the Japanese flag because they are both very old stories and very specific. Because of this I mostly used textual sources to find little bits of information where the yatagarasu reappeared in history for a second. I did use everything we learned in class, including the readings, to help me analyze everything I learned, but use anything specifically from those sources. However, I was able to find some sentences on the yatagarasu in JSTOR article such as The Origins of Japanese State and Ancestor- Worship in Japan. Another very helpful source was The Yatagarasu: The Three-legged Crow That Guided Emperor Jimmu on his Journey which was written by a professor at Kokugakuin University named Kikuko Hirafuji. These sources helped me check my other sources and their accuracy. 

Conclusion

After doing this project, I realized that there is so much more history of Japanese culture than I realized. You never really think about it but it makes sense because soccer has been around for a long time and has become a big part of the culture in many countries. I am very grateful I got to learn about all of the little pieces of history that influenced the jerseys to what they are today. An important take away was that the emblem on the jersey embodied Japan-ness more than the design on the jerseys because it was more constant. The jersey’s change can change drastically because there are new ones every year, but the emblem stays the same and has only been changed six times in its history. Both of them represent Japan but in different ways and I think that is a great balance, something that is constantly changing, and another that stays the same. It represents what Japan is becoming, and what it has always been at the same time.

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